"I completely disagree,"Scott Morrison told Sky News on Wednesday morning."I'm not surprised,they have always opposed our turn-back policy.
"But I'll tell what Australia's national shame was when it comes to this issue,almost 1200 people dead,"he said."That's national shame. That's the regional shame."
The strong critique from the UNHCR came after a two-day conference in Jakarta,attended by Australia’s deputy ambassador to Indonesia David Engel and representatives of 14 other countries,to discuss the protection of refugees in the region.
Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles said unilateralism was not meant to be a"long term sustainable answer in the flow of people coming by boat to Australia".
"We are worried about what this means in the context of our relationship with Indonesia in circumstances where they do not agree with this policy,"Mr Marles said.
The rebuke from the UN has followed the publication of explosive footage by Fairfax Media showingManus Island security guards attacking asylum seekers 24 hours before Iranian Reza Barati was killed.